A little over a year ago, the Badgers found themselves in a bad situation in a beautiful place: in the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, trailing by six in the locker room at halftime of the 2K Classic consolation game.
They would come alive in the second half, though, holding the VCU Rams to just 30 points and claiming a thrilling one-point win on Bronson Koenig’s game-winning layup with eight seconds to go.
Saturday afternoon, UW will again get the chance to play at the Garden, but is looking to avoid yet another weak first half as the No. 15 Badgers (6-1 Big Ten, 17-3 overall) take on Rutgers (1-7, 12-9) for their first rematch of the 2016-’17 season.
Though many of the UW players were in New York for the 2K Classic a year ago, freshman guard D’Mitrik Trice missed out on the opportunity by just a year.
“I know they’ve been in this arena before,” Trice said. “Last year they were in this arena, so it shouldn’t be anything new for them, but I’m excited to play there.”
Slow starts and close halftime score lines have been a trademark for the Badgers this season, and they know that needs to be addressed soon. With Big Ten play ramping up and the scramble for the regular season conference title beginning, they need to avoid any unexpected bumps in the road against inferior competition.
“Even at home we’ve had slow starts, so we just want to make sure that we understand the importance of, you know, being solid in our defense and setting our defense in transition better than we did last game,” assistant coach Howard Moore said. “I thought our guys' approach was a lot better in the second half of the Penn State game. The challenge now is to come out the way we did in the second half right off the bat and do it for 40 minutes.”
For a team like Rutgers, getting out in transition and scoring easy baskets isn’t just a luxury, but a necessity. The Scarlet Knights don’t have the depth to score consistently in half court sets against a team like the Badgers, but with sophomore guard Corey Sanders running the break, things in the lane start to open up.
At 6-foot-2, 181 pounds, Sanders isn’t intimidating anyone when he steps onto the court, but puts a basketball in his hands and he’s practically a miracle worker. He’s remarkably quick and has stellar vision, and when he is feeling it, he can do just about anything. Late last season, he torched Illinois to the tune of 39 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds. And in transition, he can be an absolute nightmare.
“We gotta make sure that we get back, set our defense, and make them have to play 5-vs-5 in the halfcourt set against our defense, which we feel pretty good about,” Moore added. “We can’t let them get to the rim, we can’t let them get easy shots, so we're gonna have to force everything above us. They have to shoot over the top, and if we can do that every night, we have a good chance of winning. If we don't—if we handle that stuff poorly—we put ourselves behind the 8 ball.”
Between the excitement of New York City and the awareness that the conference title race is starting to heat up, there’s a lot to distract the Badgers from the task at hand. But they’re doing everything they can to tune out the noise and focus on the five guys across from them.
“We want to make sure our guys are prepared to go play Rutgers and give it our all that way,” Moore said. “No matter if it’s Madison Square Garden or the RAC, we've gotta come ready to go and handle what they do.”
The game tips off from the Garden at 11 a.m. before the UW men’s hockey team takes the ice at 6 p.m.
The Daily Cardinal Calculator gives the Badgers a 92.2 percent chance of winning.
